Under Obama, Nuclear Industry Faces Tough Test
November 9, 2008
By Tom Henry, Blade Staff Writer
The nuclear industry's hopes for a renaissance are still on. But with President-elect Barack Obama taking office in January, and Democrats retaining control of Congress, the industry knows its uphill battle has not gotten any easier on Capitol Hill - especially with the instability of the world's financial markets.
The industry's chief lobbying group, the Washington-based Nuclear Energy Institute, wasted no time in congratulating the Obama-Biden ticket on its win. Its president and chief executive officer, Frank L. "Skip" Bowman, called for bipartisan cooperation the day after the election.
Mr. Obama has remained cryptic about the degree to which he supports nuclear power. He has acknowledged that nuclear is one of several viable components of the nation's energy portfolio - but only if done safely and while emphasizing a need to diversify the nation's energy mix with more wind, solar, and other renewable sources.
"That's sort of like my wife saying she'd support divorce under certain situations," William Kovacs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's vice president of environment, technology, and public affairs, said at last month's annual Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Roanoke, Va.
On the other hand, Mr. Obama's rival, Sen. John McCain, stood firmly behind the industry's hopes of building 45 new reactors by 2030. The current 104-plant fleet provides 20 percent of America's electricity.
Insiders long have thought the industry will have a hard time overcoming one of its greatest obstacles - developing Nevada's Yucca Mountain into the nation's first repository for spent reactor fuel - as long as Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada continues to hold the position of Senate majority leader.
Spent reactor fuel is the only thing in civilian hands classified by the government as high-level radioactive waste. Mr. Reid long has opposed Yucca Mountain as the site for the repository.
The Democrats picked up at least six seats in the Senate, widening their margin to a 57-40 majority. They also gained 19 seats in the House, where they will hold a 255-174 majority come January.
As a senator, Mr. Obama authored legislation that was intended to make the nuclear industry more responsive to public health concerns after radioactive tritium leaks were discovered in the fall of 2004 in groundwater near the Braidwood nuclear plant in his home state of Illinois.
His proposal eventually gave way to the institute's plan to create a voluntary reporting program for leaks rather than face the burden of additional Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations.
Radioactive tritium was found leaking from a drainage pipe on FirstEnergy Corp's Davis-Besse nuclear complex in Ottawa County on Oct. 22. Preliminary sampling showed no signs of it migrating into the area's groundwater. The NRC is in the midst of a broader environmental assessment of the site.
Nuclear power is attractive to the energy industry because it produces electricity on a predictable, 24-hour basis. Such forms of energy are called "baseload" power. Coal-fired power plants and hydroelectric plants are other examples.
"If the United States is going to meet the predicted 25 percent growth in electricity demand by the year 2030, as well as achieve its environmental goals, we must begin that work now," Mr. Bowman said.
DTE Energy is the only utility in the Great Lakes region, and one of only two in the Midwest, that has announced plans to build a new reactor.
The Michigan-based utility proposed a third reactor at its Fermi complex northeast of Monroe, a project estimated at $10 billion. The figure was $3 billion when plans were announced in early 2007.
DTE has not committed itself to anything beyond the $300 million it spent to file a 17,000-page application. It submitted the application before Dec. 31 to become eligible for $300 million to $400 million in tax credits should it follow through and build the new plant once the NRC completes its review four years from now